“For most of the students trying church, they don’t know any Christians and they don’t know anyone in our church.”
These are the words of Hannah, a Student Worker in Nottingham, who in the last few weeks has experienced more students trying church than ever before. The students in her church can often be found inviting their friends to try church, but the last few weeks have been different. The students that she has met have had little to no experience with faith and turned up without an invitation.
Hannah shares, “We’ve had a wild few weeks! We didn’t expect it but we’ve had so many new students turn up on a Sunday purely because they wanted to come to church. A lot of them don’t know anyone at our church and haven’t been to church before.For most of the students trying church, they don’t know any Christians and they don’t know anyone in our church, and it’s been so encouraging to see that across the board.”
“That they hadn’t been to church for 6-7 years but they wanted to come back…”
Seeing students choose to try church by themselves has been both an encouragement and challenge for churches. Many students find themselves feeling anxious about stepping into church for the first time or returning after years away. Hannah’s experience was no different. When her church received an email from a student hoping to try church, Hannah knew that it was her role to welcome and support them.
“We had one student email our church saying that they hadn’t been to church for 6-7 years but they wanted to come back and our church was at the end of their street, but felt really anxious about it and didn't really know how to join in. So I invited her to come for a coffee and really tried to connect with her…”
After Hannah connected with her over coffee, this student has now not only tried church, but is connecting in with the church community! Hannah adds, “from day 1 she’s been all in. It's really encouraging that God's moving!”
“I’ve never seen so many new faces on one Sunday outside of Freshers Week. To see so many new faces every week without them knowing anyone is really encouraging.”
Hannah’s experience, although inspiring, is not unique. As Fusion, we are hearing similar stories across the UK of God calling His children back to Him! Check out Joe’s story from York about a student who gave his life to Jesus and was baptised in the same week!
